OPWDD in the hearing spotlight

Courtney Burke, the new commissioner at the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (formerly OMRDD) was at a day-long hearing earlier today on the raft of problems for the agency which serves thousands of disabled New Yorkers and which was the subject a searing series that recently ran in the NY Times.

Much of the hearing ran through the longstanding complaints about inaction, coverups and other problems at the sprawling agency. Burke, though focused on the changes she’s instituted including unannounced nighttime and weekend visits to developmental centers by top staff and a phone hotline (866 946 9733) as well as email address where people can call if they believe an individual is being abused.

Burke also wants to raise hiring standards, seeking legislation that would prohibit OPWDD from hiring people convicted of serious violent crimes. She also wants to codify the idea that someone with a developmental disability is incapable, legally, of consensual sex with staffers, which would presumable elevate sex abuse incidents at developmental centers to the crime of rape.